There have been a variety of devices for casting lines, which have traditionally been employed for life-saving applications. U.S. Pat. No. 1,124,726 teaches one such device, as well as teaching that it can be attached to a fishing pole in order to throw a weight attached to a fishing line. More recently, line throwing devices designed particularly for attachment to fishing poles have been created. Many of these devices are similar to the '726 device and use the force of a compression spring to drive a piston to throw a weight, which is attached to the fishing line and carries the line with it. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,305,176; 2,817,178; 3,026,644; 3,266,184; 3,656,252; and 5,491,924 teach such devices.
Alternatively, U.S. Pat. No. 2,795,884 teaches a device using a tension spring which drives a curved finger to throw the weight. In one embodiment, the spring is mounted on the fishing pole, upon which the curved finger slides.
These devices all suffer in that much of the energy of the spring is used to accelerate the piston or finger, and this energy is lost with regard to throwing the fishing line. This energy loss limits the distance which the spring can throw a line for a given stiffness of spring. While throwing distance can be increased by providing a stronger spring, such may prevent operation of the device by children who lack sufficient strength to compress the spring. These devices must also be designed with sufficient structural integrity to decelerate and retain the captive piston or finger, thus increasing the weight and cost of fabrication of the device, and also have complicated structures, making them difficult to fabricate and operate.
Thus, there is a need for a fishline throwing apparatus for angling which does not employ a captive driving element, is simplified in structure, and offers greater ease of operation.